Bone of Contention
by Tsume Yuki
Summary: Naruto figured that if she could survive the Fourth Shinobi War, she could obviously survive the Clan Wars. But now, with no allies and Kurama sleeping on the job, she finds herself in a little over her head. Not to mention the whole eleven years old again business. Naruto quickly finds out what it means to be the only Jinchuriki running around in wartime. FemNaruto and Time Travel
1. Part 1-1

**Bone of Contention  
><strong>**Part 1-1**

**_Day 1_**  
>October 10th<p>

"Naruto!"

At the sound of her name being called out, Naruto whipped her head around to find the source. Sasuke stared back at her, his eyes wide and disbelieving, but mostly focused upon the ground beneath her feet. The ground beneath her feet which was covered in Fūinjutsu lines. Where had they come from? Wasn't everything suppose to be over now? Kaguya was sealed, locked away forever by the awesome power that was the Naruto-Sasuke combo, best friends, brother and sister in all but blood.

"It's a time-delay jutsu!" Kakashi-sensei's voice was the next thing Naruto registered, and she turned big blue eyes to look at her silver haired sensei. Now that she thought about it, her reactions were slowing, her thought process struggling. In fact, she was struggling to hear what they were all talking about around her. A last minute attempt to do her in? Naruto didn't like the sound of that.

And then there was Kurama's roar of denial, both from inside her seal and out, his viciousness and the sudden mass of chakra surging outwards, trying to break the Fūinjutsu array.

Dear god, she wished she'd paid more attention to Jiraiya when he was going on about seals. But she'd been too focused on getting a good jutsu, because sealing would take years of study that she didn't want to waste on anything other than battle-worthy jutsu. Yeah, that'd really been a mistake.

Kurama's roar of annoyance was the very last thing she heard before the pain took over. And what a mighty pain it was, running through her body, leaping form bone to bone, limb to limb and it would have left her gasping for breath if she wasn't too busy screaming instead.

She could remember everything, the dimensions hopping about before her eyes as they chased Kaguya, black Zetsu hiding beneath her large sleeve, such a mamma's boy. Neji's death, Madara and Hashirama and all the other Hokages. Dad. Her dad, stood before her smiling before he was suddenly beamed up and then the Fūinjutsu array beneath her feet. The one that felt like it'd been ripping away her life force, shredding it and forcing her body to begin shrinking in on itself.

It was burning now, every inch of her skin and all that lay beneath it, it felt like her body had been forcibly tenderized and she had no doubt Kurama would have his work cut out for her, to heal whatever mess this Fūinjutsu was creating. Naruto felt more pain race through her body and she let out a final scream before she lost consciousness.

* * *

><p>In a land that would someday become the home of a Village hidden beneath the crushing force of a waterfall, a young couple pressed themselves into the natural groove into the stone, ragged breaths mingling as their faces came closer and closer together. Between them, sheltered and protected was a small bundle, wrapped up in cloth. Their little baby girl had been born just moments ago, a beautiful little thing with dark wisps of hair and as far as they could tell, beautiful green eyes.<p>

They lived a quiet life here, with other villagers who wanted to get away from all the ninja in the outside world, to stay away from the clan wars that were happening. But that also meant that receiving any help for their current predicament was impossible.

Terrified screams shattered through what had once been a peaceful night and the young couple curled that much closer to their baby girl, only the male daring to gaze out of their only shelter. He watched in horror as the great beast lay waste to what had once been a peaceful town, giant tails sweeping across the land, splintering tree and houses as it went. It didn't even seem effected by the cries that came out from beneath it's large feet, those red eyes narrowing on what the beast would only consider a small meal. The villagers were trying to flee as fast as they could, scrambling about with their limbs slipping and skidding across the worn earth.

And then it happened.

An earth shattering bang, and then there was a young girl, she couldn't have been more than a decade in age, with long blonde hair and tanned skin. A lot of tanned skin, considering she was as naked as the day she'd been born. But it was the design on her stomach, the black squiggly lines that the male knew to be one of those ninja arts, that really caught everyone's attention. Even though the girl was unconscious, it still reached forwards, seeming to forcibly drag the struggling nine-tailed fox towards her. The massive beast disappearing into her stomach.

Clutching at his wife's shaking form, the male could only watch in awe as the girl dropped the last few feet to the ground, the black ink upon her stomach smoking and the long blonde hair only just covering her modesty. She was quite clearly unconscious, but she had saved them. Intentional or not.

And he'd see she lived for it, at the very least.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Day 2<em>**  
>October 11th<p>

Something was tickling at her nose. What being would dare to tickle her precious, cute as a button nose?

Cracking one blurry eye open and scanning for the offender, Naruto was somewhat started to be met with the sight of grass. Lots and lots of grass. Last she checked, the battlefield had been quite thoroughly cleared of grass, hell, of any form of vegetation not summoned up by a Hokage or a Madara. She should therefore not be face down in a patch of grass. Nor should she be able to feel it all over her body as if someone had stolen the very clothes off her back.

Grimacing at the very idea, Naruto rolled over, hissing in pain when the sun proceeding to burn the back of her corneas. Forearm instantly shooting up to defend her eyes, Naruto forced herself to once again open her oculi, but at a much slower and cautious pace, allowing them time to become accustomed to witnessing the outside world again. Once again, she clocked her very bare forearm, devoured of the protective arm-guards she'd taken to wearing, much like the standard ANBU equipment. Funny, the idea of being robbed blind was suddenly back on her list of possibilities. But who would dare to rob her? She'd just finished fighting a war, she and all of Team Seven were heroes now, they-

_"Naruto!"_

Naruto froze, remembering the panic in Sasuke's voice.

That's right, the Fūinjutsu. It'd burnt off all her clothes? But that didn't explain the sudden burning she'd felt everywhere eyes.

Looking around the clearing, Naruto sat up, and then squawked in surprise, staring down at her body. The blanket, which had evidently been the only thing covering her modesty, had fallen to pool around her waist. But Naruto wasn't bothered about that. What had happened to her boobs? Her fabulous lady-lumps?! Where has they gone?!

It was only after a minute of panicking that Naruto realized her body was significantly younger than before, judging by the small, rounder limbs. The seal had de-aged her? Was that even possible?

Kurama had sounded worried and flooded the thing with chakra, so it was blindingly obvious it could have kept going. So maybe her partner had changed the seal's design? She knew enough about Fūinjutsu to realize he'd have to have stuck with the original idea, so something to do with time?

That was enough thinking for her, she needed to get back to the Leaf, and fast.

Quickly assessing her situation, taking note of the trees that were not of Fire Country so she was quite possibly still in enemy territory -were there any enemies left?- which meant she had to figure out where she was.

Rubbing wearily at her head, Naruto forced herself to stand, wrapping the blanket around her very naked body for the moment, before she noticed a pack sat off to the side. And resting atop it was, dear lord, clothing!

Happily releasing the itchy blanket of it's modesty covering duties, Naruto skipped over to the clothing, pulling on the loose grey shirt and worn black pants. Not her usual colours, but she was just happy to see clothes at his point. Her younger body was still screaming in pain, but she pushed past it, determined to get to the bottom of whatever Fūinjutsu had hit her.

Pulling up the light fabric of her shirt, Naruto eyed the black seal upon her stomach, which felt far more tender to the touch than it should have done. It was locked again, which was odd. She had Kurama had been fighting side by side, why would the fox seal himself up again?

Scratching wearily at the back of her neck, Naruto sat back down, forcing her body into a somewhat comfortable position before letting her eyes slide shut. She needed to figure out what was going on, and at the moment, her best source of information was the very old Bijū sat in her stomach. However, when she tried to grasp at the pathways to her inner mind, the usual route that she'd always traversed, she was bounced back, the whole thing slipping through her metaphorical fingers.

Okay, so she was in the middle of nowhere, had woken up butt naked with nothing but a blanket and some supplies that clearly weren't her's, no access to Kurama and once again eleven years old. Perhaps that mystery Fūinjutsu had done a little more than she'd first thought. The seal was locked up tight, she couldn't contact Kurama and she was back in her pre Team Seven body.

Forcing down the bubble of panic because ninjas did not panic, Naruto snatched up the small parchment that was resting upon her new pack, flipping it open.

'_Kunoichi, _

_You have my deepest thanks for saving us from the Nine-tailed demon. However, I am ashamed to say most of my village does not feel the same way. As a run away from a clan myself, I know a bit more about the ninja arts, and what you just preformed, sealing a Bijū, was powerful work. I have snuck your sleeping form out of the village, but I regret I can not leave you with more than these supplies. Please be careful out there, the warring clans are only getting more and more vicious as time goes on. _

_-A grateful villager_'.

Naruto blinked.

Warring clans? Sealing Kurama? Hell, Kurama attacking a village?

It suddenly hit her at once.

A seal designed to de-age her, sucking the life from her. Kurama helping in the only way he knew how, over-powering the objective of the seal and rewriting it. Her smaller form.

Holy Bijū, she was back in time! What the hell?! Kurama better wake his ass up, because she needed answers.

Now.

* * *

><p><strong>Where to start? For those who don't know, this is a rewrite of my unfinished story, a second attempt that I'm going to actually finish this time around. Or, I hope so. I've managed to finish a story recently, so hopefully that skill will carry on to this one? <strong>

**For those who do know, welcome back? Thanks for picking this up again. **

**Any questions?  
><strong>

**Tsume  
>xxx<strong>


	2. Part 1-2

**Bone of Contention  
><strong>**Part 1-2**

**_Day 4_**  
>October 13th<p>

"Father." Madara made sure to bow his head just so, his hands resting atop his thighs, fingers curled around his knees and feet beneath his rear. It was the respectful posture of a clan heir, of the clan heir, and he hated it. So damn uncomfortable.

It was the usual weekly meeting, leaving him sat alongside Izuna, with little Nori sat upon his younger brother's other-side, his limbs already trembling from having to hold the whole respectful position. Madara grimaced, already itching to get back to his training. He was the strongest Uchiha born in recent years, or so everyone told him. And he had to live up to that standard. End of story.

"Tajima-sama! Tajima-sama!"

Frowning at the floor, Madara grimaced at the sound of his older cousin. Hikaku was in charge of news when it came to the world outside the Uchiha compound. Enemy movements, he knew it. Big job offers, he'd already have gotten the client in contact with them. Natural disaster heading their way? Time to move. He had his own little spy network up and running, and it'd proven effective. A good many civilians were willing to keep the Uchiha up to date on the latest news in exchange for being the first person they come to when they were in the area. It worked well, the shop-keepers got steady customers and the Uchiha got steady news. But whatever news this was, it had to be big for Hikaku to dare interrupt the clan head when he was addressing his remaining sons.

"Rise boys."

Madara did so gratefully, straightening his back, and not missing the way Nori rubbed the back of his neck with ungainly movements. Madara forced his lips not to twitch upwards in a smile, especially when he noticed Izuna forcing himself not to copy their youngest brother, his hand clenching into a fist.

"It's big news, worrying..." Hikaku trailed off, running a hand across his forehead and gathering the nervous sweat with his fingertips, presenting the scroll he'd been holding to their father.

Relaxing slightly, Madara adjusted his weight about on his legs until he was sat back on a haunches, far more comfortable than what he'd previously been. Folding his hands together into his lap, he waited for his cousin to elaborate upon what was so worrisome, what had seen to him racing into this lesson and interrupting. Izuna and Nori had copied him, he noted from the corner of his eye, but in far less graceful manner.

Ah, the joy of being the eldest.

It was only Nori's third meeting though, brought into the fold not long after Mikobi, his twin, had perished on his first mission. Madara still felt terrible over the death of their second youngest brother, and he'd do anything to protect both Nori and Izuna. Of course, with it being Nori's third meeting his posture was slipping, though thankfully their father was too focused upon the scroll in his hands to notice it. Making a mental note to remind his little brother once they were out of Father's oh so large hearing range, Madara turned his attention back to the two older males in the room, noticing his cousin looked surprisingly ashen.

"The Kyuubi has been spotted in Waterfall Country," Hikaku murmured for the three of them.

There was a low silence as Madara did the mental maths. Waterfall country was a day's trip away from here at full speed for a ninja, something that a demon as large and the Kyuubi could cover at an amiable lumber. He forced himself to keep the nerves at bay, to not let them show upon his face because that was not allowed. Ninja, especially Uchiha, did not show their emotions. Unless they were younger then ten and in the comforts of their own clan compound apparently, because both Izuna and Nori shared a fearful look.

"This is worrying news, but I still see no reason for this to have been brought to my attention right this instant, unless the beast is upon our back-door."

"But Tajima-sama, one of my contacts said the Kyuubi had been, ah, sealed."

What?

Sure, Madara knew that Fūinjutsu could seal things, supplies into a scroll, it was one of the first things most children learnt, so that they weren't stuck carrying their stuff all the time. A basic storage scroll was a life saver, as long as you didn't lose it of course. But, the kind of power needed to seal the Kyuubi into something had to be astronomical, no wonder Hikaku had interrupted their lesson with Father, this was certainly something they needed to know about.

"Who sealed it?!"

"A little girl sealed it, well, she sealed it into her self."

"Into herself?!"

Madara couldn't find the heart to tell Izuna off for his interruption, he'd been close to doing so himself. Was it even possible to seal something into yourself, never mind the greatest calamity to ever roam the earth? What kind of power would that take?

It was as the word power rang through Madara's head that he came to a startling realization.

There was a girl walking around out there with the power levels of a Bijū, of the Bijū. There was a girl out there that could possibly learn to wield the power of that destructive force. He felt sick. Because that power wasn't in the hands of the Uchiha, which meant it was either in the hands of an unknown, or worse, their enemies.

"The girl?" Their clan leader, because he wasn't their father at this moment in time, demanded, face tight.

"Blonde, long hair, tanned skin, about eleven years old. Odd whisker like markings on the cheeks, no known clan affinity. She disappeared in the middle of the night. They haven't seen her since."

Madara was having a hard time picturing it. A girl, no older than he, sealing away a beast like the Kyuubi? He'd heard horror stories, even passed through a village that the fox had taken out. It'd been a wreck, no homes left, littered with bodies of the fallen. Sure whatever ninja that were there appeared to have put up a fight, but it had clearly not been enough. And then suddenly, a little girl takes care of it all?

"Alert the forces," Tajima murmured, a thumb and forefinger rubbing at the bridge of his nose like the very idea of this information caused him physical pain when it came to even thinking about it, "tell them to keep a look out for the girl, and if possible, bring her in. If you meet too much resistance, you destroy her. If she won't join our forces, we can't risk her joining another."

.

Walking out of the main hall, Madara stretched his arms above his head, rotating the limbs and letting out a low purr as they flowed with the motion. Their father had gone to gather up two others, determined to go and collect more information for the source, a little village in Waterfall country. Which left the three of them to their own devices for a while. Izuna had perched himself atop a training long, legs calmly folded beneath him as Nori began working through his katas, trying to mirror all of Madara's movements.

"Do you think it's true brother, that a girl managed to seal the Kyuubi?" Izuna peered down at him, coal eyes bright with curiosity and a funny little frown upon his face. Izuna and Nori, they hadn't seen death like Madara had yet, they didn't have the experience he did. And he planned to keep it that way as long as he possibly could.

"I don't know Izuna," he flowed onto the next counter, allowing a small smirk to twitch at the corner of his lips when he watched Nori overbalance himself and fall forwards, "but if it's true, be careful. I won't lose the two of you."

Both boys nodded seriously and Madara pushed down the uneased that rested within him. Father was on the case. Everything would be fine.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Day 6<em>**  
>October 15th<p>

Letting out a pathetic whimper, Naruto scrunched up her nose and eyes, hoping that whoever owned that blasted foot would get the hint and scram. Yet it once again dug into her side, provoking a lazy swipe towards the general source from Naruto.

A small, light gasp alerted her to the fact that she wasn't alone, and Naruto let out a low sigh. Clearly not an hostile, because otherwise she'd have been killed already. She'd done her damn best to set up a series of traps before surrendering to the much desire sleep, but apparently this person had been damn lucky to get around all of them without setting off a single one.

Cracking open a sleep riddled eye, Naruto stared up at the figure currently blocking out the sun.

"You okay?"

It was a boy, probably about her physical age. His hair was, for lack of better description, awful from this angle. He looked like he'd taken Rock-Lee's bowl cut, ruffled it up ever so slightly and then lightened it to a chocolate brown. His face was familiar, so very familiar.

Grimacing, Naruto sat up from her position laid out on the floor, rubbing sleepily at one eye as she did so. So far, she'd come across two clans already. One had left her alone, watching her walk by with curious eyes but not stopping her progress through the forest.

The other however, the other had been that blasted Iwa clan full of pyromaniacs that liked to blow stuff up. She hadn't even been able to finish her introduction before she was declared an enemy and they turned hostile on her. It was only thanks to years of training, and that little chase with Deidara that she'd gotten away from the sudden rain of bombs. Of course, not unharmed, but the burn she'd gotten upon her forearm was now healed, so she couldn't really complain.

Stupid psycho bombers.

"I think?"

The boy's dark eyes were inspecting her, still leaning over her slouched form with a curious look upon his tanned face. And while the little detective wannabe was completing his inspection, Naruto took stock of her own inventory. Her kunai pouch was still wrapped around her thigh, and her pack looked unopened, so either the boy hadn't gone snooping, or he'd done it well enough that she couldn't tell. One or the other.

"Hey, did you get hit with a fire jutsu? Or explosives?" The strange boy had crouched down beside her now, carefully taking hold of Naruto's right arm to inspect what had been a wound yesterday. Now it was new pink skin, as always she'd bounced right back into perfect health, leaving no scar behind.

"Your clothes say you were hurt recently, but you haven't got a wound," the boy whispered, twisting her arm back and forth, dark eyes fixated on the skin while his fingertips -rough and callous, obviously he'd been handling weapons for a while- brushed against the new skin.

"When did you get hurt?" The boy grinned, releasing her arm to rub sheepishly at the back of his neck.

"Yesterday," Naruto murmured, cautious, "I heal quickly."

The boy looked astonished, eyes darking back to her burnt sleeve before the dark irises were focused upon her face again, taking in every part of it as Naruto returned the favour, pushing down the amusement that swirled around inside her stomach. Now that no one knew who she was, or rather, what she was, they all seemed spell-bound by her instantaneous healing rate. The Iwa bombers certainly had been. But of course, Jinchuriki hadn't been thought of yet. If she remembered correctly, Mito Uzumaki, the wife of the First Hokage, became the first one to seal a tailed-beast inside a human, inside herself. And then all the nations had been scrambling for one. Naruto mentally snorted.

Not if she had anything to say about it. Not this time.

"That's cool," the boy spoke softly, offering her a hand as he stood up.

Naruto allowed herself to be pulled upwards, standing at eye level with the other ninja who quickly let go of her hand once she was on her feet.

"My name's Hashirama! But I can't tell you my clan name... Clan rules and all."

Naruto wasn't really listening past the first name. No wonder the kid's face was so familiar, she'd seen it on a mountain nearly everyday of her life. And she'd fought beside his resurrected self in the war too. Holy heavens and hell, this was the first Hokage she was speaking to. And he was just a child. It was obvious now why the sight of him had been ringing a bell the size of the Kyuubi in her head.

Curses, Sakura had been right, she should have paid more attention in history. Otherwise she'd be able to help massively with the construction of the Leaf Village now. Only, she wouldn't be able to do so because she couldn't remember anything. Not even when Konoha's was founded! Only that it was Hashirama and Madara who'd founded it.

Not sure how she felt about Madara at the moment, Naruto pushed that thought away, instead focusing on getting her name out passed the frog in her throat.

When it came out as nothing more than a croak, Hashirama offered up a small water skin, obviously his own. Naruto's eyes would have probably narrowed in suspicion had she not already recognised who the boy was. However, never one to pass up anything for free, a mindset drilled into her through years of living alone, Naruto took the offering gratefully, taking a long swing before hacking up whatever had been stuck in her throat.

"Naruto."

"Huh?"

"My name, it's Naruto. Namikaze Naruto." She'd learnt her lesson about giving out the Uzumaki name.

That's what she'd introduced herself as to the bombers of future Iwa, and the second they'd heard that name they'd almost started foaming at the mouth. That's why they'd attacked, the mere mention of an Uzumaki relation, even if she was missing the red hair, and they'd completely lost it. Apparently they had a long standing feud with the Uzumakis, something that didn't surprise Naruto. If all her mother's family shared her temper, then she found she had no shock accepting the fact the equally hot tempered bombers were warring with the red-heads.

Still, it didn't make her life any easier, even if she had learnt the lesson to not use that clan name. Ever. Thankfully, Minato Namikaze had been an orphan from a young age, and as such, there was no Namikaze clan out there.

For what was possibly the first time in her life, it was safer to go by her father's name instead of her mother's.

"Namikaze?" Hashirama repeated, sounding the word out slowly, as if to see how it rolled off his tongue. Naruto knew he was really trying to look through his memories to see if he recognised a clan by that name, and no doubt what their standing with the Senju were.

So, Naruto rushed to fill in the blanks for him with some half-truths. For the best lies were always the ones with a grain of truth.

"My dad was a first generation ninja, he got taught by a wandering toad sage. Only, he died when I was born, so the sage took me in for training too. He died a year ago." A year ago in Naruto's eyes at least.

Bang, nothing but truth there.

Hashirama seemed to think so as well, because he offered up a huge grin.

"No wonder I haven't heard of a Namikaze clan then! So you're a ninja... But you're on your own?"

Of course, at the moment everyone moved about in clans, safety in numbers and all that. But Naruto couldn't have that currently. The only place she could claim a family connection was the Uzumakis, and they'd find the seal on her stomach no doubt. And she would not become a weapon in war. No way, no how.

"Sure am. I guess you are too?"

Naruto eyed the boy's kunai pouch, listening in amazement as Hashirama let out a loud, full belly laugh. No one else she knew really laughed like that, especially as the war had come upon them. It was refreshing. She liked it, liked what she knew of his personality. Which wasn't too surprising considering the fact they had the same spirit, that they had similar tones to their chakra.

"So how good are you?"

"Wanna find out?"

Hashirama eyed her warily, eyebrows knitting together slightly as he thought. Naruto made her way over to the river, stepping out onto the liquid as if it were solid ground. Judging by the lack of a gasp from Hashirama, he already knew the technique. Good. Falling into her favourite stance, Naruto raised a blonde brow at the boy, grinning.

"Well?"

.

They traded blows across the surface of running water, sending little waves crashing to the banks as they shot about one another. Naruto was irritated to realize that her taijutsu was shot to hell, she kept aiming further than she should now that her limbs had been shortened, and if Hashirama had been any better than what he was, she'd have been beaten easily.

Luckily enough, the boy was skilled, but not skilled enough that she had to rely on instinct to take him down. So at the very least she was able to focus on her blows to make sure that they hit, even if Hashirama managed to block or dodge the vast majority. The one time she'd gotten a kick through his guard, Naruto had been forced to stop, otherwise she'd have broke a rib laughing at the face the brunette had pulled as he bounced down the river like a skipping stone. He'd rubbed at his side were her kick had hit somewhat disturbed by the power behind her blow, no doubt it'd be as bruised as a roughly banana in the morning.

Naruto had been seconds away from calling the spar off, when Hashirama had instead let out a joyous laugh, bouncing back towards her and looking as if he'd caught his second wind. Naruto mirrored the sound.

It'd been so long since she'd just sparred for the sake of sparring. Not for training, not full out fighting, but just a competition between two friends looking to further their abilities by pitting themselves against one another. She'd been at war, and after that, she'd been ducking between clans that had no love for outsiders, making her way towards the place she'd forever call home. Only, the village wasn't built yet, leaving her homeless.

For now that was. So it was pleasant to lose herself in a purely physical spar, to forget about everything other than blocking and dodging Hashirama's attacks, and returning her own.

.

As their legs came together in a bodily twisted scissor kick, Naruto flew backwards, taking a dunk in the river from the force of the blow. The water was cool against her overheated skin, and even as the slightly too large clothes began sticking to her skin, Naruto still found a grin upon her face as she surfaced. Hashirama had apparently suffered the same fate, his hair stuck to his skull and hell, she'd just been sparring with the first Hokage and they'd come to a draw. A draw. Forget that he was a kid and her taijutsu was seriously messed up. Naruto would never forget this light-hearted day.

"I haven't had a spar that good for a while!"

Hashirama had crawled up onto the riverbank now, shaking his head and sending dislodged water droplets splattering about everywhere. He was grinning, but it was a bit lopsided, considering she'd managed to land a punch on his cheek that was rapidly purpling. That had to hurt. Though she'd certainly have had a few bruises too, had it not been for some Bijū healing powers. She'd tried not to punch him too hard in the face, but it'd been such an easy shot after all.

"Neither have I, you're good."

That was obvious, he was going to become the first Hokage, leader of the Senju clan. He had to be good.

"There's some fish in this river, wanna stay for dinner before you run off to wherever it is you live?"

The dark haired boy paused for a second, seemingly to internally weigh up his options before happily nodding.

"Sounds good!"

.

"It's peaceful around here, you know?"

Naruto hummed, taking a chunk out of the fish she'd been cooking over the fire.

Though he'd never actually told her who her parents were, the Third had said her mother was the best cook around. So Naruto had worked damn hard to be as good as her mother, or at least, she hoped she was. It was difficult to gauge, considering she'd never actually tried her mother's cooking. Jiraiya had said it was good, but then again, Jiraiya might have just been taking pity on the poor orphan girl and then throwing up later in the night once she'd gone to bed. For a toad sage, he had a surprisingly tender stomach. But her worries had been put to rest, because Hashirama had happily announced the fish was cooked and seasoned -with what little herbs she could find around the clearing- to perfection.

"I mean, if you're not planning on going anywhere, you could camp here maybe? You'll have the river for food and water and the trees for shelter..." Hashirama trailed, off, looking into the red flames of the camp-fire they'd set up, made up of dry wood so there'd be no smoke trail for any nearby ninjas to follow.

"I could even visit, you know, to keep you company..." The last part of Hashirama's words came out a whisper, and Naruto's heart clenched.

She remembered being all on her own, wanting just one friend, latching onto the first people who showed her kindness. And while Hashirama obviously had his entire clan still with him, that didn't mean he had a friend her age, much like Hinata-chan had once been all on her own, despite being surrounded. Rubbing nervously at the back of her neck, Naruto grinned back at the obviously nervous boy. She wasn't too far from the future sight of Konoha, so maybe sticking around, having a training partner as she fixed her taijutsu, would be a good idea?

"I think I will, as long as it stays peaceful, I mean."

"Awesome! I can come by any time I don't have clan duties, and you can set up a shelter, maybe even in the trees, I'll help you get started!"

And so Naruto spent her sixth day in the past getting to know a little more about Hashirama Senju, finding out that he liked mixed mushroom soup, that'd he'd started wood sculpting -and judging by the cagey expression, it had a little something to do with his wood-release- and he had three brothers. By the time he left for the day, Naruto was sure she;d just made her first friend in this time, and slept easy for the first night since she'd woken up in the past.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry it took so long, I've been busy acclimatizing to my new housing, sorting out new stuff and readying for winter.<strong>

**As this goes on, the chapter's contents will start to change, but I needed this one to remain somewhat similar. Only Naruto knows who Hash is now, because she'd just fought a war with the dude, how could she not?**

**Any questions?  
><strong>

**Tsume  
>xxx<strong>


	3. Part 1-3

**Bone of Contention  
><strong>**Part 1-3**

**_Day 13_**  
>October 22nd<p>

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Sat atop the training log that rested within the centre of the currently in use ground, Senju Tobirama calmly brought his hands together into a lazy tiger seal, dark eyes half-lidded as he watched the three of his brothers train before him.

Currently sporting a twisting ankle that he'd been told not to stand on for the rest of the day by the healers, the white haired boy was not allowed to join in on today's training if he wanted to be fully recovered by the time he woke up tomorrow. Which saw him in his current predicament.

Seated upon a log and watching as his two younger brothers trained furiously in an attempt to better themselves whilst playing about with his own chakra. He'd spent a good few hours doing nothing but meditating, changing the ratio of spiritual and physical energy just to see the results. In all honestly, he fully expected something good to eventually come of it, perhaps a sudden flux in chakra that would improve his already powerful for his age jutsu? Well, that was the preferred outcome. So far though, all he'd been able to do was lose one handseal from the trail he usually had to complete to perform his most complex water jutsu. Still, that split second of time he'd cut off may one day save his life, so he wasn't going to complain.

His father and clan leader, Butsuma Senju, agreed that it was worth his time to continue looking into the idea, so that's why he was currently sat here instead of going over information for the clan. They had far smarter minds available for that service.

As usual, their father had spared a few hours of his time to run through a set of new katas with them; it'd probably be expected of Hashirama to teach Tobirama tomorrow when he was back on his feet.

Only, Hashirama wasn't blasting through the new moves like he usually would. In fact, Tobirama had seen him stumble once already. He'd counted eight mistakes so far, with one repeated twice over.

Tilting his head to a side, Tobirama considered his brother again, trying to pin down what was so different about him at the moment, why he wasn't quite right today. In fact, reflecting on it, Hashirama hadn't really been focused for a while now. He'd been a lot brighter in personality for the past week, but he'd always had a far off look in his eyes. Every so often, Tobirama had caught his older brother chuckling to himself, or looking wistfully off towards the south. He was distracted, but whatever he was distracted by wasn't effecting his skills in battle. Hell, the reason Tobirama had a sprained ankle was because the two had sparred the previous day and Hashirama had pulled his new move out of nowhere that had been so unexpected that Tobirama hadn't been prepared for the sudden fall he'd experienced. Hence, injured ankle.

So he was clearly thinking on something to do with his training, it just didn't seem to want to work with whatever Butsuma was teaching them. What had he discovered? A new jutsu that he was now working his taijutsu around? It annoyed him, that Hashirama wouldn't confined in him. But Tobirama remained calm, sat back and determine not to push. Because if he did, Hashirama would clam up with a vengeance, refusing to speak on the topic at all if it was that important of a secret to him. Perhaps going so far as to pull out of that odd, depressive aura. How he managed such mood swings, Tobirama had no idea whatsoever, nor did he have any wish whatsoever to find out. If that was the way his brother was, fine. As long as he could still fight at his usual level, Tobirama would remain quiet until such a time it did.

"Hashirama! What is wrong with you today?!"

But apparently, their father would not.

The one day his precious, prodigal son didn't pick everything up right away, he couldn't accept the fact Hashirama was having a bad day. Still though, Tobirama couldn't deny he wasn't interested in the reason, regardless of the fact he was doing his best not to look interested in the answer. He failed, as did his two younger brothers.

Looking startled at being called out, Hashirama moved his wide eyes from where they'd been staring at his hands, almost as if they were traitors for not falling into the moves as naturally as the usually did, before he slowly fell out of his fighting stance, a sigh escaping from between his lips.

"I've got a lot on my mind, I'm trying something new out and it's got most of my attention."

Echoing his son with a sigh, but far more frustrated than what Hashirama had shown, Butsuma ran a hand through his hair, lifting up the headband to scratch at the scared skin beneath it.

"Forget it. You're on scouting for the rest of the day. Don't bother showing up till you can get yourself back to normal."

Tobirama frowned, an expression which deepened when Hashirama tried not to look pleased at his latest punishment. His older brother used to hate scouting, would have much rather spent the time training or slacking off with his brothers. Or well, as much as they were allowed to slack off anyway. But now, he seemed almost excited by the idea. Come to think of it, the boy had been volunteering for scouting and the supply run three days ago. What had changed with Hashirama that left him happy enough to leave the compound, whereas before he'd have been against doing so?

Rubbing at his chin, Tobirama frowned. Whatever was going on there, it clearly wasn't a problem considering the fact Hashirama had put him down on the floor so quickly yesterday. If it were a problem, then Hashirama would have told them by now. As such, Tobirama would wait for his older brother to open up.

With those thoughts in mind, Tobirama turned his attention back to his chakra, read to focus on his own training.

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* * *

><p>Naruto had spent just over a week in her new living accommodations when Hashirama popped up once again.<p>

So far, since the day they'd met, he'd been able to stop by twice between clan duties, and this would mark the third time. Between the knowledge on wilderness survival -some of her idea's had been a bit futuristic, and Hashirama had given her an odd look before mentioning that he had no idea what this or that was- they'd been able to craft a cosy little den beneath the roots of a rather grand tree for her to shelter in.

What Naruto hadn't been telling her new friend was that she'd been summoning up shadow clones on the days he wasn't here and having them build a rather grand treehouse up above her current den, which would leave her feeling more secure than just remaining so close to ground level. True, she'd slept in worse places than her little den, like alleyways and unfriendly orphanages. There was always the sounds of nature surrounding her, which left her in a near state of constant bliss; it was so much better than the deadly silence of the battlefield before the enemy attacked. Naruto was truly grateful for that.

Still though, she couldn't wait to see Hashirama's face when she showed him the treehouse, no doubt it'd be more impressive than her current little den, and she couldn't wait to boggle his mind, leaving him to wonder just how she'd created such a masterpiece so quickly.

Cackling silently to herself, Naruto got to her feet and began warming up for another day of training, determined to whip this useless body back up to her usual standard.

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When Hashirama finally showed up again, Naruto was in the process of inverse sit ups, clinging to a tree branch with her legs, slowly curling her shoulders up to meet her knees and then lowering herself back down at an equally lazy place. She was somewhere in the three hundreds regarding how many reps she'd done, and the steady burning in her abdominal muscles let her know that she was getting a good workout. With the incredible healing rate that Kurama allowed her, her muscles recovered much quicker, but that also meant she had to push herself that much harder to improve, to get the muscles burning. She'd been up since before dawn had broken across the tree-line, since the birds had begun singing to welcome in the new day as the sunlight lit up the river-surface, as if thousands of little stars were hidden beneath its current.

It was as she was coiling back up into another sit up that she heard the snap of a branch, Hashirama alerting her to the fact it was him approaching. She'd been able to sense his chakra, but not with the ease she'd enjoyed before her jaunt into the past. Not from the usual distance either, she'd already run ten times her maximum sensing distance this morning as a warm up, so she'd have to focus on improving on that front as well.

"Naruto? You nearly done?" Hashirama had skidded to a stop in the clearing, his head having whipped back and forth before he'd spotted her hanging from a branch. The dark haired boy was rubbing nervously at the back of his neck, a sheepish grin stretching across his face and Naruto couldn't help herself, she grinned back.

Who knew Hashirama Senju was such a cute kid? True, she'd only fought alongside his adult self in battle, but it didn't change the fact she'd not gotten the best of reads on his full personality. Yet, they were the reincarnation of the same spirit, so it was understandable they were equally optimistic and friendly. It made Naruto grin, she liked Hashirama. He was a brilliant bundle of fun and happiness, he hadn't been tainted by the war that followed in every ninja's footstep right now. And she'd enjoy it while it lasted.

Flipping backwards, Naruto twisted in the air, landing in an improvised roll before straightening up at the edge of the riverbed, right before her current sparring partner. Said partner was amused by her antics, but never impressed. He could probably do such a move himself, he was the first Hokage after all. And that just made Naruto want to show off some more, because hell. This was Hashirama Senju, he'd become the first Hokage someday. And she planned to be there when the Leaf was made, and the first steps to peace taken. She planned to push for even more piece, for the tailed beasts to not be split apart like prizes, a gift for going along with the ideal of peace, only to be used as a weapon. Hopefully, she'd get to stop that.

"I just gotta run through my stretches, then I'm good to go." Slipping into a double stretch, one that pulled at both her calf and shoulder muscles, Naruto watched Hashirama as the boy's dark eyes assessed her stance. It was only a momentary pause, but he copied her, settling beside her stationary form and mirroring her every movement. While he couldn't quite stretch as far as what she could, he did come close.

"Do you even have any bones in there, or do they just liquefy when you need them to?" Hashirama asked with a huge grin, copying her shift in weight to the other foot perfectly, despite the precarious position this left him in regarding his balance.

"Nah, though that would be pretty useful.. Only if they turn solid again though. Otherwise I'd be in trouble."

Hashirama snorted, accidentally throwing himself off balance and landing with a thump on the ground.

Naruto smirked, falling out of her final stance and offering the boy a hand to help him up. It was very different compared to when she'd been working with Sasuke, who would have just sneered at her hand and got to his feet himself, no doubt embarrassed at falling over. Hashirama just laughed it off, easily accepting her help without even an ounce of hesitation.

"Hey Naruto, there's a town about half a day's travel from here. It's where most of the clans nearby go for missions, we all usually have someone there that'll take mission offers and every few days someone from the clan will go and pick them all up. But there's one guy that just takes mission requests from the locals, maybe you could earn some money that way?"

Some ninja work? Naruto tilted her head to a side, considering. True, money could only help at this point, and while she could live off the land forever, having some of the local currency would probably be a good idea.

"Sure, lead the way."

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Shōkessai was a reasonably small settlement alongside the river that was, as Hashirama had said, a day's walk away from where Naruto was currently staying. It wasn't too hard to find, and thanks to its location upon the river, all she had to do was follow the body of water to and from her little den/in progress treehouse. And though she wasn't sure if the village had survived the test of time, having never passed through the settlement with Jiraiya while she was travelling, or spent time there while she was part of Kakashi's cute little genin team, that didn't mean she couldn't appreciate it while it she was here.

In fact, if she'd visited a place again, she'd no doubt find herself confused, unsure of where to go and expecting things to be there that wouldn't be built for years.

Lugging her pack up a bit higher until the heavy bundle came to rest in the slight dip that was the curve of her back, Naruto swore the first thing she'd be buying was ink and a scroll. It was so irritating to have to lug everything around with her, for fear of having it all stolen. A storage scroll would certainly help with that. Hashirama was right, she did need some money. Even if she owned so little it could all fit into a pack, that didn't make it weigh any less.

Hashirama, it seemed, had packed next to nothing when he left to join her for the day from wherever his clan was settled for the time being. All he'd brought along was a flask -seeing as clean water was not that hard to find out here- and his kunai pouch. Perhaps when they were heading back to her clearing she'd catch something on the way to cook for a late supper. Hashirama would probably appreciate it.

"So, have you been travelling for a while then?"

Walking alongside her, Hashirama had both his hands lazily swinging beside him as he walked, within easy reaching distance of his kunai pouch. To a civilian, he'd no doubt look like a relaxed, carefree kid. But the trained eye could pick up on the graceful sway of his walk, the calculated way his arms never moved more than a second's of time away from the nearest weapon on his person. Naruto, contrary to what people thought, wasn't stupid. She could read that much of the boy beside her after all.

"A few years. My god-father, the wondering toad sage, trained me. We visited a good few countries; the Land of Lightning had some interesting wildlife."

That was one way of describing the island she'd trained with Kurama's chakra on.

"But the Land of Fire is my home. I was born here, I can't really picture living anywhere else now."

Hashirama hummed. He'd come closer at some point while they were talking, clearly pleased to see that she was opening up, even if only a little bit. She could understand, sort of. Every ninja alive right now wouldn't dare to trust anyone outside of the clan, and she was just that. An outsider. She wasn't a member of the Senju clan, and she had no plans to join the Uzumaki. While they were related to her, they settled in Whirlpool. Naruto honestly couldn't imagine living anywhere other than the Land of Fire, in Konoha. It was her home, and she would wait for it to return, even if she had to help build it. Home by home.

"It'd be nice to have a home though, somewhere to return to... Do you not get tired of moving around all the time with your clan? Not having anywhere to really call home?"

Hashirama blinked, looking somewhat startled by the question before he gave a low shrug.

"I've never really known anything else?"

"But wouldn't it be great though," Naruto elbowed the boy gently in the side, grinning wildly as she did so. Might as well plant the idea now. "Like, a village, where all the clans got along and worked together. Then there'd be no more fighting if they all came to an agreement. It could be the first step towards peace! And that's what the Pervy-Sage wanted!" Naruto grinned at the thought of Jiraiya, because he would be reborn again. Hopefully in a better Leaf village, one that hadn't seen war. Only, only, she'd be the older one.

Naruto almost tripped over her own feet.

Dear lord, by the times things had run their course, she was going to be older than the Pervy-Sage! Older than Tsunade! Kurama help her, she was going to be the baa-chan this time around. What an awful thought.

Looking over at the thoughtful face of the first Hokage, Naruto forced herself not to cackle at her brilliant idea once she'd pushed the previous vomit inducing thought away. She'd got him thinking. Good, that's exactly what needed to happen.

"But what can you do? You're just a kid."

The words strung. Because Hashirama was right. She was just a kid right now. But she wouldn't be forever.

"Well everyone has to start small. Peace isn't going to be built in a day, but we can keep heading for it. I might be a kid now, but I'll grow up someday. I can make friendships now, and they'll hopefully still stand in years to come. I mean, if you join me in this dream, that's two people. And if we both reach out to someone else, that's four. And it can just keep spreading. Everything has to start somewhere, right?" Looking up at the sky, Naruto gave a whimsical smile, hands resting behind her head as she enjoyed the mid autumn sunshine.

"I guess so."

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It was ten minutes before they arrived at the town that saw Naruto and Hashirama fall into a contest. Leaping between the tree branches, the two of them were pulling off more and more elaborate jumps, twists and flips. Landing her three twist, triple back flip, Naruto gave a huff of annoyance as Hashirama copied her, but with four twists instead of three. She could match that, but not top that. Not without a boost from a clone. Instead, she completed the same move but with an extra flip, using chakra to slide under the thick branch she would have landed on, and then throw herself up from the other side.

"That's cheating!" Hashirama cried, but was betrayed by his rather large smile, to which Naruto just laughed.

"We're ninja, we're suppose to cheat to win."

Frowning, the Senju boy glared back at her for a moment, until he rolled his eyes and nodded his head. Naruto's cheeks has lifted rather high throughout the entire competition, it had just been so long since she'd been able to hold such a smile on her face, so carefree that she felt the emotion might split her cheeks. She hadn't really had a chance to loosen up, to really enjoy herself in such a long time. All it'd been was training, training to save Sasuke, training to defeat Akatsuki, training to survive the war, training to give Obito, then Madara, then Kaguya a royal beat down. And then, this happened. Just as she'd beaten all the bad guys, just as it was finally approaching the time to relax, to enjoy a peaceful life in the Leaf, with all her friends back, with Sasuke-teme back, this had happened. She hadn't even gotten a chance to sort out their problems, to really cement their friendship. Would probably never get to see her head on the Hokage mountain, because there was no mountain at the moment.

Then, Naruto almost felt the need to hit herself repeatedly over the head. She should have sent a clone to check on the future sight of her much beloved village!

Bringing her hands together in a cross seal, Naruto whispered the name of her most used, most favoured jutsu beneath her breath, watching as a single clone popped into existence beside her. The double didn't even offer her a look, instead leaping back in the direction they'd been travelling from. She'd given it more than enough chakra to make it to the mountain, and it'd be popping after it got the information she needed anyway.

It wasn't until she turned back to Hashirama that she realized something was wrong. He had actually stopped, staring with an open mouth at the space the clone had just left through, several leaves having fluttered to the floor with the disruption.

Naruto actually had an epiphany, and she once again wanted to hit herself. Of all her jutsu, after Rasengan, this was the one she'd actually researched the origins of. The second Hokage had been the one to invent that jutsu. The second Hokage who couldn't be any older than what she was right now. Well damn.

As if to back up her sudden realization, Hashirama finally found his voice.

"That clone was solid; what kind of jutsu was that?"

Rubbing sheepishly at the back of her neck, Naruto turned away from the boy, looking back in the direction they'd actually been heading. What to do, what to do? Let her mysterious sensei have the credit? But then other's would have heard of it before. Well, nothing for it really.

"It's called Shadow Clone Jutsu. I can't do regular clones, I've got way too much chakra. So I use this one instead." There, not technically a lie told in that. Because Naruto couldn't lie for the life of her, not about the important things anyway. Oh, if it was for a prank her tongue might as well be made of silver, but something like this? Nope, not a dishonest bone in her body right now.

"Oh, that's kinda cool. Where's it going?" Hashirama had stumbled up beside her, the two of them casually walking alongside one another now, heading towards Shōkessai once again.

"To search for a big mountain, that was near where the Pervy-Sage lived before he started wandering."

"Oh! I know that mountain! It's huge, like a cliff-face and super awesome! My brother-" Hashirama suddenly cut off, bright, worried eyes darting over to look at her. Almost as if he'd said, or was going to say, something she wasn't suppose to hear.

So Naruto just stared back, waiting for him to either elaborate or change the subject.

"We did a vertical wall climbing challenge on it." Oh, so he wasn't suppose to mention his brother, but now that it'd happened, he was just going to plod on? Well, Naruto wasn't going to play investigator, not now anyway.

"Did you win though?"

Clearly happy that she hadn't asked for more details, either on his training routine or his family, Hashirama smiled.

"Yeah, I did."

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Shōkessai was a town that consisted of a multitude of hastily built homes, none of which were in the best of conditions. The main source of trade however, seemed to come from ninja, who cared little for appearance and more for practicality. It was clear from the wears; no descript clothing, training weight and weapons. Without doubt aimed at ninjas. Hell, there was even one store selling ingredients that could be made into poisons.

Some travellers were walking by, and Naruto could pick out the few that were ninja. They forced themselves to walk without their trained grace, but Jiraiya had taught her how to pick them out. How to see the minute twitching in some muscles, the calluses that rested on fingers and thumbs, how every step was perfectly calculated to seem normal. It would seem that this place wasn't infested with bandits, but only because the rogue ninja that ran the show behind the scenes. No doubt they'd picked up the different jutsus on their own, or they were the bastard offspring of one reckless clan member or another. Naruto knew what to look for, she could see why no one else had noticed.

Obviously the major clans didn't realize that there were people running this town because they sent rookies, people who wouldn't be considered a big loss of skill to pick up their missions. They wouldn't notice all the signs around them. The poverty that clung to the civilians that lived here, those not associated with the rogue group of ninja running this town, or the ones that passed missions onto the big clans. And the civilians wouldn't dare speak up, for fear of their homes being burnt down. They couldn't contact a big clan to sort out the rouges either, because the contacts worked with them. It was one big cycle of viciousness, and Naruto would not be standing for it.

"Hash," Naruto whispered, watching from the corner of her eye as the boy in question snapped to attention, eyes glittering with questions, "this town's not safe. There's rouges running it. I've seen it before."

It was Gatō all over again, and she'd cleaned out her fair share of towns with Jiraiya too. She was not going to let this stand, not at all.

Hashirama's eyes sharpened, though he didn't take her words and face value. instead, he took a good look around, noticing some people moved too gracefully, some cringed away from others. Children that mother's huddled into their arms as they walked down the streets, men sneering as they passed them by. Hashirama's brow crinkled and his previously joyous smile dropped in despair.

"I say we find a civilian, a real one, and get some information," Naruto whispered, blood boiling beneath her skin. She hated this, hated that no one seemed to have noticed. If it wasn't for her, would anyone have seen it? Or would this problem remain till it ate everything this town had? She didn't want to think about it.

Hashirama ran a stressed hand through his hair, scowling as he did so.

Uncapping her water bottle, Naruto offered it up to the boy, well aware he was already out of his own, and neither of them had stopped to refill yet. Wiping at his mouth after taking a swig of the water, Hashirama grinned at the girl beside him, handing back the half empty carton.

"That's a good plan. I like that plan."

.

It wasn't difficult to locate a child, locating a child that was obviously not being put through ninja training was only the tiniest bit harder. To get the boy to take them to his home, probably so used to being bullied into something that he was more than happy to comply with the first people to show him some form of kindness.

They were led to a small butchers shop, one side of which looking like it had hastily been rebuilt after a fire. So if people didn't pay what were probably ridiculous taxes, then they got their homes attacked? Oh, Naruto was burning with anger, hands clenched at her sides and metaphorical steam pluming from her ears.

The boy's parents were talking to a shady looking character, who at the sight of them, gave a small nod to the couple before leaving the building. Naruto kept track of the chakra, but the man was genuine in his desire to leave apparently. Hopefully not going to go and get reinforcements. Nothing about the two of them really screamed ninja at the moment, not since the two of them had hidden their kunai pouches in Naruto's bag for now.

"What can I get for you kids? I've got some new beef-"

"They're gone."

The woman visibly sighed in relief and Naruto gave a grim smile, forcing her fingers to uncoil and allow the crescent moon shaped cuts her fingernails had made in the flesh of her palm to heal over.

"How do you know?" The husband was clearly a bit more cautious, shuffling his six year old son behind him, dark eyes narrowed on their forms.

"I'm a sensor, my area isn't great, but I know they're certainly not in hearing distance right now. They're ruining this town, right? When did it start?"

Hashirama's head snapped around to look at her. Naruto wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but this head forwards approach clearly wasn't it. Not that she really cared. Word games, dancing around the topic, that really wasn't her style. Throwing people off their game, doing the one thing they didn't expect, yeah, that was more her.

"Excuse me?" The butcher didn't seem to believe it either.

"I'm gonna get rid of them, because if there's one thing I hate it's people who abuse their power, but I need to know how good their foothold here is."

"My friend is right."

Suddenly, Hashirama was the epitome of the professional shinobi, posture straight, eyes hard and unforgiving. The transformation was so quick Naruto almost stared. Almost.

"But-"

"I assure you sir, we are both very skilled. I am the strongest ninja of my generation within the clan, and my friend here can match me blow for blow." Oh, that was good. By referring to his clan as he had, Hashirama had implied that Naruto was with them, but not outright stated it.

"And which clan are you associated with then?" The butcher had folded his arms now, frowning as he did so. She could see Hashirama hesitate out of the corner of her eyes and Naruto grimaced slightly. They were close to getting their information, she couldn't let Hashirama's hesitation in regards to revealing his clan.

"The Uzumaki clan."

It clearly took everything he had not to start staring at her, if the way Hashirama tensed was anything to go by.

"You mean the sealing one?"

Naruto nodded folding her arms across her chest.

"But don't they all have red hair?"

"My dad's not an Uzumaki, neither is Hash's. We're kind of outcasts really, but too good for the clan to give up. That's why they let the two of us travel alone after all."

The butcher nodded, dark brown eyes seemed to consider them again before he finally nodded.

"Okay then. I'll tell you all that I can."

.

The two of them walked away from the butchers store with a leg of chicken each, thanks to the modest amount of coins that Hashirama had found in his pocket. Naruto's head was spinning with information and she rubbed wearily at the back of her head, the cooked leg of meat easily giving way beneath her sharp teeth.

As they turned the corner though, Hashirama pinned her up against the wall, a serious frown on his face.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?! You don't just go throwing clan names out like that! They wouldn't hurt me too much, not with our clans allied like they are, but you're on your own! You can't just use their name like that!" Snorting, Naruto patted the boy's arm, feeling somewhat touched he was worried for her.

"My mum was an Uzumaki. He asked which clan I was associated with, I answered truthfully. Uzumaki, from my mums' side. Not that I've ever met any of them. She died just before my dad. Anyway, we'll clean the town of this problem, and then the Uzumaki clan won't care, because even if they didn't do it, they'll still get a reputation boost from the fact people have heard them associated with such a good deed. No problem."

Hashirama frowned, seemingly only half convinced. It was so different from his normal behaviour, all this talk on clan reputation and being killed for a slight. A stone settled in Naruto's stomach.

Hashirama was a clan heir. She'd known it already, she'd seen this kind of attitude form Kiba. He was, had been, a fun loving guy. Until clan matters were slapped down on the table top, then there were no time for jokes, not when it came to family safety.

It almost made Naruto jealous, to think people looked out for one another like this. She'd never really had that, had always seemed to be on her own from the start. Only Jiraiya, the only person she'd ever opened up to one hundred percent. Though she claimed all of the Leaf village as her family, claimed Kurama as a family and was willing to die for them, she wasn't too sure it was the same thing.

However, there was a more pressing matter.

Would Hashirama ever sell her out to his clan? She wanted to say no, he hadn't done it already after all. But he didn't know she was a well of -at this moment in time- untapped power. He just saw a girl is age that was reasonably skilled at the ninja arts. Not a Jinchuriki. He didn't know about that, not yet. If he did, she didn't doubt that he'd tell his clan, and she wouldn't blame him for it. From his point of view, she'd be a danger. And then she'd have the entire Senju clan after her. That was not something she wanted to be facing. Not yet, not without the frog contract -which no longer worked for her-, not without sage mode and certainly not without Kurama's chakra. As long as she didn't seem too strong, she doubted he'd sell her out.

That would just have to be her safety net for now.

* * *

><p>Scowling from where he was settled in the shade of a grand oak tree, Izuna Uchiha let out a long, low sigh. He'd been sent off to gather some more supplies for the clan, to pick up their groceries from their usual supplier in Shōkessai. He never got to do anything of importance, not any serious training with his big brother, no learning about clan secrets, and certainly not planning to capture this girl that could apparently seal the Bijū into people.<p>

No, he was stuck fetching the clan more potatoes. The only good thing about it was that his cousin Surudoi was here too.

Surudoi, despite being two years older than Madara, was only on the same skill level as Izuna. And while this sung praises for the younger boy, it clearly wasn't enough to get him in on the important stuff. Surudoi was not a particularly talented warrior, but he'd survived his share of battles. The scar that ran down his jaw line showed that. He was rather lucky, having gotten away from an enemy nin at the age of six with nothing but a scar. Yet, he hadn't awakened his Sharingan. Most of the elders -the one's that made it to that age anyway, which was a grand total of three- had written the boy off, deciding he'd be making up the quarter of the clan that never awoken their bloodline limit.

Izuna couldn't imagine being wrote off like that, and vowed he'd awaken the brilliant red eyes of his clan if it were the last thing he ever did.

Now, with three storage scrolls under his belt, filled to the brim with all sorts of food stuff, Izuna was bored. He didn't want to go back to the clan just yet, not so that he could just get shuffled away from the important things. Stuff he wasn't old enough to hear, or talented enough to be included in the talk.

A hand on his shoulder had Izuna leaving his thoughts, looking up into Surudoi's dark eyes, set in a worried looking face.

"Surudoi?"

"There's a fight, just left of here."

The one thing that his cousin had going for him was his abilities as a sensor, which were above par for his age. The only thing above par, but it was still quite helpful. Between the two of them, Izuna was the fighter, and Surudoi was the one to keep him away from the fights. No doubt Madara had a hand in Surudoi being sent with him, ever since the second death of one of their brothers, the older boy had always had a hint of worry in his features whenever Izuna told him he has a mission. Even if it was just little things like this. Barely any danger involved at all.

"Let's go have a look."

Apparently, Surudoi was as bored as he was, for the teen nodded, gesturing for Izuna to follow after him. Pulling at his chakra until it was tightly bound, hidden from those unless they were familiar or an exceptionally good sensor, the younger Uchiha bounced after his cousin, leaping into the treetops.

.

Crouching low in the woods, Izuna let his dark eyes rove over the clearing, taking in everything before him. The fight was unlike anything he'd ever seen before.

Either there was a mother out there that could proudly proclaim she'd birthed twenty identical children, or this was some new type of clone. He was leaning towards the latter option.

Two kids, judging by the age difference between all the participants, against a collection of ninja, clan-less or the rejects. Both kids couldn't be any older than Surudoi, but neither were they younger than Izuna. Somewhere between perhaps? Madara-nii had taught him all about not rushing in, to stay back and observe the situation, so that was what Izuna was going to do. The two were good, he could tell that much already. But the boy only seemed to be using taijutsu, so much so that it appeared he was almost purposely avoiding ninjutsu.

Confusion swept over Izuna, because surely the fight would have been much easier, over much quicker, if he was to use it. But, it only took him a moment to realize why when he caught sight of a flash of blonde as fire raced past the second figure. Or well, one of the second figure's clones.

The girl was the answer.

Well, he assumed it was a girl, but Izuna wasn't completely sure. What with the shortly cropped blonde hair. Regardless, looking at the two, their colouring, it clear that they weren't related, and thus, there was a high chance they weren't form the same clan. Not that it really mattered. They were both fighting the same opponent.

Maybe whatever job they'd gotten had overlapped and they'd decided to work together to complete it quicker? They certainly did work well together, moving in a smooth flow of limbs, observing one another's moves and adjusting accordingly, clearly in sync with one another.

They were good, both of them. Maybe as good as Madara-nii, which meant the two of them would only get better with time.

"Who are they?" Surudoi's voice came from the left and Izuna grit his teeth, lips pulling down into a frown at the question. He didn't need to hear what Surudoi was actually thinking. If they both went down there, they'd get killed. These two were better than they were. Outmatched them in every way, skill, strength, speed.

Izuna wasn't stupid enough to see if their luck was greater than the two strangers.

"I don't know, but I don't think they're form the same clan."

.

It was only after all the enemy ninja had been taken down by the two kids that Izuna realized he was wrong.

The two most certainly knew each other, because the girl, and he was almost certain it was a girl now, bounced up and over to her friend, holding up her hand with her palm flat. The boy slapped his own against it in some form of celebratory gesture before they began liberating their enemies of anything useful. The girl had whooped loudly enough that it had startled the two Uchiha, who watched her surface with a bag of sweets -a rare find during these times- from one ninja. She split them evenly with the boy.

Yeah, they without doubt knew each other well before this fight.

"We should report this back to your father Izuna-kun," Surudoi whispered, still crouched low beside him, nervous black eyes flickering to and from the strange, victorious ninjas, "if they're clan-less they won't be much of a threat. But if one of them is a clan kid, and the other was taken into that clan, they could grow up to be a problem."

Izuna agreed. It was quite possible one of them was being set up to marry the other by their respective clans, only Izuna had never seen a clan with that shade of blonde hair before. Regardless, it didn't matter. With how strong the two were, they were a good match for one another.

"Let's go then," Izuna replied, turning on his heels and silently leaving the branch they'd spent the past two minutes sat on, observing.

There was a good deal on his mind now, and he hoped that he hadn't missed any important information. Or that he wouldn't forget anything while he was heading home.

Things would be so much easier if he already had his Sharingan.

* * *

><p><strong>I'm sorry this took so long. I've been sat with this doccument open for ages, but in all honesty, I forgot about it. But here you go, big chapter is big. <strong>

**Any questions?  
><strong>

**Tsume  
>xxx<strong>


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